Circumcision

[Meowzltov]

You know what, folks? You can die from shaving your armpits. I almost did. Seriously. An ingrown hair caused an infection, which got worse and worse, and by the time my brother took me to urgent care with a high fever, I had gone Septic. I was hospitalized for a while -- my vague memories are of the doctor yelling at the nurse about something.

So now.... Shall we stop people from shaving their armpits?

 

[blackribbon]

Not my experience.

Do your doctors give the baby pain meds prior to circumcisions? And because the doctors at my hospital do so many, they just may be quicker and better at doing it.

What is your experience with it?

 

[Nithavela]

Do your doctors give the baby pain meds prior to circumcisions? And because the doctors at my hospital do so many, they just may be quicker and better at doing it.

What is your experience with it?

I watched a couple of videos, both with and without pain medication. The screaming was barbaric and caused my inner caveman to want to reach for the nearest bone club and bludgeon the surgeon.

 

[Nithavela]

So now.... Shall we stop people from shaving their armpits?

Of course not, but maybe stop them from shaving their infants armpits without medical reason?

Really, this is the worst analogy I've seen in a while.

 

[blackribbon]

I watched a couple of videos, both with and without pain medication. The screaming was barbaric and caused my inner caveman to want to reach for the nearest bone club and bludgeon the surgeon.

Okay...I have actually have stood in the room with the babies (caring for one) and the babies cry louder when their foot is squeezed for the blood spot test. I suspect that your videos were either ancient or chosen for their shock value to back an anti-circumcision bias.

FYI: Babies can also scream to the point it would make your inner caveman grab a bone club because they are mad that they can't latch onto the breast properly (remember, they are learning too).

 

[blackribbon]

Of course not, but maybe stop them from shaving their infants armpits without medical reason?

Really, this is the worst analogy I've seen in a while.

Actually, I suspect that we hospitalize more people for infections related to shaving than botched circumcisions. This isn't that uncommon.

Really, a circumcision is a minor procedure that takes less than 15 minutes to perform most times. I also believe that it isn't barbaric or mutilation and should be left to the parents to decide....just like they decide a million other things for their child until he/she turns 18.

 

[loveofourlord]

Actually, I suspect that we hospitalize more people for infections related to shaving than botched circumcisions. This isn't that uncommon.

Really, a circumcision is a minor procedure that takes less than 15 minutes to perform most times. I also believe that it isn't barbaric or mutilation and should be left to the parents to decide....just like they decide a million other things for their child until he/she turns 18.

we generally don't let parents do permanite things to children, especially at a baby age without sound strong medical reasons. Most of the reasons I ever hear that claim to be medical are adhoc, they arn't legit reasons, they are just reasons drummed up to make a excuse.

Yes people die every year from procedures, but generally you can't do unescary surgery on a minor.

 

[blackribbon]

we generally don't let parents do permanite things to children, especially at a baby age without sound strong medical reasons. Most of the reasons I ever hear that claim to be medical are adhoc, they arn't legit reasons, they are just reasons drummed up to make a excuse.

Yes people die every year from procedures, but generally you can't do unescary surgery on a minor.

My daughter had twp birth marks removed. It took two laser treatments. There was no sound medical reason except her ego growing up with a huge red mark on one of her pretty little legs. I waited for the longest time but my husband said she deserved not to have to worry about it for the rest of her life...and insurance woudn't pay after her 2nd birthday.

That treatment took time and more anesthesia than a newborn circumcision. I cried many tears for her. She didn't cry so much except from being held still. She has grown up to be a figure skater with no evidence of either mark. She has no memory of it beyond pictures.

If a family wants to circumcise because they want their little boy to look like the other boys in the locker room, who cares? It isn't major surgery and there really are more medical reasons (like less UTIs, less chance of being an STD carrier, and less chance for penal cancer) for a circumcision than having my daughter's birth mark removed. The data isn't significant enough to justify the recommendation of circumcisions but there is medical evidence that it may improve health.

To get a circumcision as a man requires the patient pay for it because insurance covers only baby circumcisions. It also is a much bigger and significant surgery where the man is put all the way under anesthesia....so bears more risks.

You are free to not circumcise your child. I will not make recommendations either way for my patients. I will simply ask them what are their wishes and tell them both the pros and cons if they aren't sure.

I do not understand why this is such a controversial issue. You can't give me evidence on why not circumcising is the better option ... because it is a very small procedure (not brutal or barbaric at all) ... and a lot less traumatic that the act of being born. There is no medical evidence that it is better to not do it...so again, I think that means we are allowed to make our own decisions based on our cultural and religious beliefs.

 

[blackribbon]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation on male newborn circumcision....

New Evidence Points to Greater Benefits of Infant Circumcision, But Final Say is Still Up to Parents, Says AAP

 

[Nithavela]

Really, a circumcision is a minor procedure that takes less than 15 minutes to perform most times. I also believe that it isn't barbaric or mutilation and should be left to the parents to decide....just like they decide a million other things for their child until he/she turns 18.

Are parents usually present when a circumcision is done at your hospital?

 

[blackribbon]

Are parents usually present when a circumcision is done at your hospital?

We recommend that they stand outside the door if they want to be there...the circ room is very small but I suspect that if someone insisted on being there with their son, we wouldn't say no. Again, it is a very quick easy procedure. The boys are back to their parents and on the breast in less than 30 minutes.

 

[Nithavela]

We recommend that they stand outside the door if they want to be there...the circ room is very small but I suspect that if someone insisted on being there with their son, we wouldn't say no. Again, it is a very quick easy procedure. The boys are back to their parents and on the breast in less than 30 minutes.

How often are the parents inside or waiting outside of the room?

 

[blackribbon]

How often are the parents inside or waiting outside of the room?

Why does it matter? They actually are usually trying to get a few minutes sleep while the baby is away. The same reason they often allow me to roll the baby down to the nursery to do the hearing screening. Mom is usually exhausted from attempting to breast feed every 3 hours at this point.

I actually don't know because I work night shift. Circumcisions are done during the day. I learned how to do dayshift duties which includes assisting with circumcisions during my orientation.

 

[Nithavela]

Why does it matter?

Are there any other surgical procedures done on infants where the parents are routinely absent?

 

[Dave-W]

You may not have seen what happens when it all goes wrong. More than a 100 babies die each year from 'circumcision' complications in the U.S. alone. I survived but with too much damage to ever have a normal sexual experience.

When my son was born 30 years ago, he was circ'd by the dr placing a small plastic cap over his male part that had a groove in it. A silk thread was tightly tied in line with the groove. In about 3 days time the cap and the foreskin fell off. No crying. No blood. And the groove was a guide to keep it from being cut off to tightly.

 

[Dave-W]

Are there any other surgical procedures done on infants where the parents are routinely absent?

I am sure that in most cases, if the child needs invasive internal surgery, (like open heart) the parents are NOT in the OR.

 

[JustHereToTalk]

The idea that circumcision is done for reasons of hygiene is a modern opinion held by some in the U.S.A. Most of the rest of the non-Muslim world don't mutilate their genitals and do not have the hygiene problems that the circumcised in America are supposedly being saved from.

This, in addition to how absurd a general application of the "cut it off so it won't get dirty" argument would be even if there was some lazy hygiene benefit.

 

[loveofourlord]

My daughter had twp birth marks removed. It took two laser treatments. There was no sound medical reason except her ego growing up with a huge red mark on one of her pretty little legs. I waited for the longest time but my husband said she deserved not to have to worry about it for the rest of her life...and insurance woudn't pay after her 2nd birthday.

That treatment took time and more anesthesia than a newborn circumcision. I cried many tears for her. She didn't cry so much except from being held still. She has grown up to be a figure skater with no evidence of either mark. She has no memory of it beyond pictures.

If a family wants to circumcise because they want their little boy to look like the other boys in the locker room, who cares? It isn't major surgery and there really are more medical reasons (like less UTIs, less chance of being an STD carrier, and less chance for penal cancer) for a circumcision than having my daughter's birth mark removed. The data isn't significant enough to justify the recommendation of circumcisions but there is medical evidence that it may improve health.

To get a circumcision as a man requires the patient pay for it because insurance covers only baby circumcisions. It also is a much bigger and significant surgery where the man is put all the way under anesthesia....so bears more risks.

You are free to not circumcise your child. I will not make recommendations either way for my patients. I will simply ask them what are their wishes and tell them both the pros and cons if they aren't sure.

I do not understand why this is such a controversial issue. You can't give me evidence on why not circumcising is the better option ... because it is a very small procedure (not brutal or barbaric at all) ... and a lot less traumatic that the act of being born. There is no medical evidence that it is better to not do it...so again, I think that means we are allowed to make our own decisions based on our cultural and religious beliefs.

wow...every excuse you just gave are disgusting.

STD's...realy? How many new borns are having sex that require it? Plus the studies were massivly flawed and highly dubious, and the benefit if anything was so minor it's hardly worth counting. And guess what they should be using a condom, not being circumcised as a way to avoid std's.

And seriously, the, "[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] my child will think he's a freak." another...how pathetic, you know what, growing up I was circumcised, and I saw more children that were not then were, and I was confused about it, but didn't care. This is the worst argument, because you really think a kids going to be bothered by this?

A child has a right to their bodies, and a birth mark? I wouldn't recomend a birth mark removed either, but that hardly compares to cutting off majority of sensations from a males body part. There is no defense against it, I think people like you defend it because you realize how barbaric it is and can't handle that. Funny how many that will attack female, then defend to the death male, are they nescarily as severe in males, no. But they are both still disgusting procedures that do ireperable harm to a child.

 

[blackribbon]

wow...every excuse you just gave are disgusting.

STD's...realy? How many new borns are having sex that require it? Plus the studies were massivly flawed and highly dubious, and the benefit if anything was so minor it's hardly worth counting. And guess what they should be using a condom, not being circumcised as a way to avoid std's.

And seriously, the, "[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] my child will think he's a freak." another...how pathetic, you know what, growing up I was circumcised, and I saw more children that were not then were, and I was confused about it, but didn't care. This is the worst argument, because you really think a kids going to be bothered by this?

A child has a right to their bodies, and a birth mark? I wouldn't recomend a birth mark removed either, but that hardly compares to cutting off majority of sensations from a males body part. There is no defense against it, I think people like you defend it because you realize how barbaric it is and can't handle that. Funny how many that will attack female, then defend to the death male, are they nescarily as severe in males, no. But they are both still disgusting procedures that do ireperable harm to a child.

My information on the reasons to get it are from the American Academy of Pediatrics, not me. The pediatrician recommended the birthmark removal. And thank you so much for saying my daughter ought to have grown up with a red blotch that turned out was easily removed. There is some vascular component that means it could have caused some issues because the red spot was a highly vascularized. And since I have actually witnessed both procedures, there is nothing barbaric about either of them.

If a baby was born with an extra finger that is non-functional, do you believe that it is barbaric to remove that too? (they tie a simple string around it...cut off the blood supply...and it falls off).

I beg to differ on the "permanent damage" to either of my kids from the procedures we opted to have done. And neither is harmed but both are happy successful young adults.

 

[blackribbon]

Are there any other surgical procedures done on infants where the parents are routinely absent?

Most surgical procedures that are done on infants as well as children or adults are not done with family members present. Most people can't handle watching surgical procedures done on their loved ones. Some has to so with keeping a sterile working field. This is a simple in & out procedure...really.

But if a parent wants to be there for circumcision, they can. That isn't true most other procedures.